KNOWLEDGE IS OBSOLETE: Sugata Mitra, the researcher best known for his “hole in the wall” experiment, is bringing his radical instructional approach in US Schools. His secret: let kids teach themselves. Wired takes a look at one of Mitra’s “SOLE” (short for Self Organized Learning Environment) session in Harlem, where teachers ask big questions and students get in groups to find answers online. Described by Mitra as “minimally invasive education,” the approach emphasizes critical thinking and communication over the collection of facts.
“Googleable” knowledge becomes obsolete and the skills to find things in the Internet, to be able to discern the information for accuracy and relevance, become more important,” says Natalia Arredondo, a student of Mitra’s who is running the experiment.